Always Room for Growth

When I was younger, I had always wondered why my life took so many twists and turns. Now that I’m older (not always wiser, but I feel as though I’m getting there!), I’m starting to see now how those twists and turns have gotten me to where I am right now. My husband, Barry, said something to me when we first got together and before we got married that always stuck with me. He stated, “I try to learn something in everything that I do.”

In other words, he was stating that there was always room for growth. I’m going to take it a step further and say that that statement should hold true to our professional life and our personal and religious life. Each is tied to the other and makes for a more well-rounded individual.

We need to realize that there is so much that we can learn from each other. We don’t have to always agree, but maybe by watching someone else, we can learn what not to do in our own life. Maybe, by reaching out to others, we can begin to empathize with them instead. Maybe, we can be inspired by how another person holds to their dignity even as they go through something terrible. Maybe, just maybe, it can make us become better people by learning from others.

There’s always room for growth in how we handle ourselves and the things that go on in our lives as well as what we can learn from the world around us. I know that it’s never easy to change ourselves. In fact, I think that it’s one of the hardest things that we have to learn how to do. However, the reward can help us become a better version of ourselves than we were before. (Related post: Seeing the Potential). Just think of it as a “makeover”. Who doesn’t want that? Here’s me in the background, yelling, “YES, PLEASE!!!”

So, what did I learn from this? I like who I am now. I’m also finding that I’m really liking where I am now. All those different pathways that I took long ago, have led me to this place. I can now look back and see that all those things that I learned from those twists and turns in my path through life, were what made this time in my life better. Am I done learning? I hope not! I hope that I can continue to say that until the time that I’m ready to go and be with God. It’s humbling but also so very rewarding at the same time. (Related post: Learning to accept the challenges of life)

What can you gain from this? It’s hard when you don’t know where you’re going. It’s also hard when you don’t understand the purpose behind where you’ve been, either. I think that the key to figuring out what you’ve gained is to write down all of your experiences (yes all, as in the good, the bad, and the ugly). Then take each one of those experiences and figure out what you learned from that experience. Sometimes, we just need to see it in black and white in order to get the full effect. It certainly couldn’t hurt and you never know what you can gain from it unless you try.